Favorite hymns and their authors

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT;

Foreword

Students of Hymnology, who have read numerous works on that subject, have doubtless noted the fact that many writers have devoted much space to criticisms, the romance of hymns, or "hymn-myths," and by extended remarks and suggestions of their own have, in some cases, rendered the personality of the compiler so pervasive that it has overshadowed the authors of whom they have treated. Such works have been very useful in moulding the opinions and tastes of people who were uninformed, or incapable of forming just opinions of their own. They have raised the standard of hymnody in the churches, and have prepared the people to judge more correctly of the merits of the authors and their hymns.

So many excellent works, combining a treatise on Hymnology with the Story of the Hymns, have already been published, there appears to be no demand at the present time for another book of that character. But there seems to be room for a book in which the space shall be almost wholly occupied by the lives and works of the authors, allowing them to speak for themselves, and leaving the verdict of their merits to the reader.

It is related of Dr. Horatius Bonar, who was one of the most popular hymn-writers of the nineteenth century, that "so much was his poetry a part of himself that his daughter, Mrs. Dods, was able to write an excellent article on Dr. Bonar, in 1897, which deals with his poetry autobiographically." He had expressed the wish that his works might be his only memorial, and he was, indeed, remembered as he had hoped to be, —

"Yes, but remembered bv what I have done."

iv FOREWORD.

Doubtless many of the authors who have been the victims of so much criticism, favorable, or unfavorable, by the writers of works on Hymnology, would be glad of an opportunity to be remembered simply by what they have done.

The editor of this book has endeavored, by very brief original remarks to introduce the authors, and by quotations from their hymns, and occasional quotations from their other poems, as side-lights illustrating their characters, to allow their memorials, and the praises they so richly deserve, to be expressed through their own lives and their works.

By the chronological arrangement of the one hundred seventy-five authors included in the book, the intelligent reader will be able to trace the increase of poetic fervor, and the "evolution of song" through the centuries, and also the changes in the doctrines and dogmas of the Church, as expressed through the hymns, from Roman Catholic Xavier down to the truly catholic hymns of Whittier.

By giving the authors so exclusively the right of way, the editor has been able to include in the index of first lines references to six hundred twenty-five hymns, by authors whose sketches are referred to in the index of authors. The hymns have been very carefully selected and are adapted for use in churches of all denominations. There are the favorite old hymns — which "mother used to sing" — later, and new hymns; hymns for the children, ranging in style from "There is a happy land" to the classic hymns of Mrs. Luke and Mrs. Alexander; a choice selection of Gospel Hymns, — in fact, among them all, even the critical reader cannot fail to find some of his own favorite hymns.

Pastors, and leaders of Church meetings will find the book a convenient work for reference; easily accessible on account of its size, and yet comprehensive enough to include most of the hymns in common use at the present time.

The field of History has been so thoroughly explored and occupied that any attempt to obtain material for a new history must lead through well-beaten paths, and usually result in a new version of an old story, which may have been

FOREWORD. v

better told by others. This is true of the "Story of the Hymns," and the compiler of this book gratefully acknowledges the information obtained from the following excellent works, to which the reader is referred for a more comprehensive and critical treatment of the subject:

■ Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology; The Hymn Lover, by Horder; Campbell's Hymns and Hymn Makers; Christopher's Hymn Writers and Their Hymns; Benson's Studies of Familiar Hymns; Saunder's Evenings with the Sacred Poets; Stead's Hymns that have Helped; Tillett's Our Hymns and their Authors; Butterworth's Story of the Hymns; Butterworth's Story of the Tunes; Miss H. C. Knight's Lady Huntingdon and her Friends; The Psalms in Human Life, by Rowland E. Prothers, Olden Time Music, by Henry M. Brooks; Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, by Alfred Porter Putnam; also from works by Elihu Burritt, Mrs. E. N. Raynor and Mrs. E. L. Petitclerc, Mr. J. E. A. Smith, Rev. C. R. Palmer, D.D., and Rev. W. B. Sprague, D.D.

The writer also very gratefully acknowledges the kind and cordial encouragement and assistance received from the following named clergymen :

Rev. Addison Ballard, D.D., Rev. W. V. W. Davis, D.D., Rev. Walter Austin Wagner, Rev. J. Bruce Gilman, Rev. James E. Gregg, Rev. Earl C. Davis, Rev. C. L. Leonard, D.D., Rev. F. W. Lockwood, Rev. S. P. Cook, all of Pittsfield; Rev. George Wakeman Andrews, Ph. D., of Dalton, Mass., and Rev. R. DeWitt Mallary, D. D.of Housatonic, Mass. ; also the very courteous and helpful testimonial of Mr. H. H. Ballard, librarian, of Pittsfield; the loan of cuts of portraits of authors by Mr. H. A. Knapp, of the Canaan Press, and the many words of appreciation and encouragement received from personal friends, which have made the work of the writer possible.

W. Rowena Edgerton.

Pittsfield, Mass., Oct. 21, 1907.

Contents

PAGE

Introduction, xi

I. St. Clement — St. Ambrose — Prudentius — St. Anatolius — Fortunatus — St. Andrew of Crete — Venerable Bede — St. John of Damascus — St. Theodulph — St. Joseph, the Hymnographer . . 1

CHAPTER II. Tenth To The Seventeenth Century

Be Thou our present joy, Lord!

Who wilt be ever our reward; And as the countless ages flee, May all our glory be in Thee.

Venerable Bede.

has been truly remarked that some of the best hymns were composed in "the dark ages." They were "sombre and monotonous, but simple and sublime, and never to fade until that last day which they so often celebrate." Speaking of the earliest hymns of the Latin Church, Herder, a celebrated German writer, says, "Who can deny their power and influence over the soul? They go with the solitary into his cell, and attend the afflicted in distress, in want, and to the grave. While singing these, one forgets his toil, and his fainting, sorrowful spirit soars in heavenly joys to another world. Back to earth he comes, to labor, to toil, to suffer in silence, and to conquer. How rich the boon, how great the power of these hymns!"

Robert II of France (997-1031).

Robert II succeeded his father upon the throne of France, about the year 997. He has been called the gentlest monarch that ever sat upon a throne, and his amiability of character poorly prepared him to cope with his dangerous and wily adversaries. His last years were embittered by the opposition of his own sons, and the political agitations of his times.

Robert possessed a reflective mind, and was fond of learning and musical art. He was both a poet and a musician. He was deeply religious, and from unselfish motives, was much devoted to the Church. He was a chorister, and there was no kingly service that he seemed to love so well. We are told that it was his custom to go to the church of St. Denis, and in his royal robes, with his crown upon his head, to direct the choir at matins and vespers, and join in the singing. Few kings have left a better legacy to the Christian Church than his hymn, which, after a thousand years, is still a tone and an influence in the world. The first two verses of his hymn follow:

Holy Spirit, Lord of light, From the clear celestial height

Thy pure beaming radiance give.

Come, Thou Father of the poor, Come, with treasures which endure,

Come, Thou light of all that live.

Thou of all consolers best,

Thou, the soul's delightsome guest,

Dost refreshing peace bestow; Thou, in toil, art comfort sweet, Pleasant coolness in the heat,

Solace in the midst of woe.

Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153).

Bernard of Clairvaux, the animating spirit of the Second Crusade, and the great campaign evangelist, was a child of five years when Peter the Hermit entered on the First Crusade. Bernard had been dedicated to Christian service by his wonderful mother, Aleth, who took her child, like Hannah of old, into the temple in babyhood and consecrated him to a holy life.

Bernard was eminently a missionary, and through his influence schools for Christian teaching were founded in England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Italy. The true missionary spirit rings in his warning letter to Pope Eugenius III, who had been in Palestine one of Bernard's pupils: "Who can assure me that I shall, before I die, see God's church as it was in the old days, when the apostles cast their nets not for gold or silver, but for souls? How do I wish that thou mightst have the spirit of him who said, "Thy money perish with thee." Oh, that Zion's foes might tremble and be overwhelmed by this word of thunder! This, your mother, the Church, demands and expects of thee. Thy mother's sons, great and small, are longing, sighing, for this, that every plant that our Heavenly Father hath not planted, may be by thee rooted up."

When the existence of the Christian kingdom in the East was threatened by the fall of Edessa, that beloved Christian stronghold, into the hands of the Turks, it fired the spirit of the holy Bernard, who travelled through Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, preaching a crusade with an eloquence that enlisted the co-operation of a French king and a German emperor. In 1147, largely as the result of Bernard's exciting appeals, three hundred thousand were on the march to Jerusalem, while it was said that as many more began a better pilgrimage to a holier city.

In later years, Bernard's missionary interests were engaged for the conversion of the Jews, who were then, as in all subsequent time, subjects of persecution. He pleaded always, " There is a promise of the general conversion of the Jews."

Bernard's beautiful hymns are the flowers and fruitage of his zealous and consecrated life.

Following are the first verses of three of his hymns:

Jesus, the very thought of Thee

With sweetness fills my breast; But sweeter far thy face to see,

And in thy presence rest.

O sacred Head, now wounded,

With grief and shame weighed dovvTi, Now scornfully surrounded

With thorns, Thine only crown; O sacred Head, what glory,

What bliss, till now, was Thine!

Yet, tho' despised and gory,

I joy to call Thee mine.

O Jesus, King most wonderful,

Thou conqueror renowned, Thou sweetness most ineffable,

In whom all joys are found.

Bernard of Cluny (12th Century).

Barnard of Cluny was an Englishman by extraction, both of his parents being natives of England. He was born, however, in France, very early in the 12th century, at Morlaix. Little or nothing is known of his life, beyond the fact that he entered the Abbey of Cluny, of which at that time, Peter the Venerable was the head. There, so far as we know, he spent his whole after life, and there he probably died, though the exact date of his death, as well as of his birth, is unrecorded. The Abbey of Cluny was at that time at the zenith of its wealth and fame. Its church was unequalled by any in France; the services therein renowned for the elaborate order of their ritual, and its community, the most numerous of any like institution, gave it a position and an influence such as no other monastery, perhaps, ever had. Everything about it was splended, almost luxurious. It was amid these surroundings that Bernard of Cluny spent his leisure time in composing that wondrous satire against the follies and vices of his age which has supplied some of the most widely known and admired hymns of the church of today.

Following are the first four lines of three of his hymns:

Brief life is here our portion;

Brief sorrow, short-lived care; The life that knows no ending,

The tearless life, is there.

For thee, O dear, dear country,

Mine eyes their vigils keep; For very love, beholding

Thy happy name, they weep.

Jerusalem the golden,

With milk and honey blest, Beneath thy contemplation

Sink heart and voice opprest.

Each of these hymns ends with the stanza:

O sweet and blessed country,

The home of God's elect!

O sweet and blessed country,

That eager hearts expect !

Jesus, in mercy bring us

To that dear land of rest ; Who art, with God the Father,

And Spirit, ever blest.

Thomas Aquinas (i 227-1 274).

Thomas of Aquino, confessor and doctor, commonly called "the Angelical Doctor," is said to be the greatest divine of the Roman Catholic Church. At the age of five he was sent to the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino to receive his first training. After remaining seven years in this institution, and continuing his studies in Cologne and in the University of Paris, where he completed a three years' curriculum, he was established in a new Dominican school, where he achieved a great reputation as a teacher, though he by no means confined himself to such work. By his preaching and his writings he exerted such an influence over the men and ideas of his time that Louis IX insisted upon his becoming a member of his Council of State, and referred every question that came up for deliberation to him the night before, that he might reflect on it in solitude. At this time he was only thirty-two years of age. In 1261 St. Thomas was appointed to a chair of theology in the Dominican College in Rome, where he obtained a like reputation to that which he had already secured at Paris and Cologne. Pope Urban, being anxious to reward his services, offered him, first the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and then a Cardinal's hat, but he refused both. He also declined an appointment to the archbishopric of Naples, and the offer of the revenues of the convent of St. Peter and Aram. King Charles I as a mark of royal honor, bestowed on him a pension.

St. Thomas was a successful lecturer and a most voluminous writer. Though not a prolific writer of hymns, he has contributed to the long list of Latin hymns some which have been in the services of the Church of Rome from his day to this. They are upon the subject of the Lord's supper. St. Thomas is one of several Roman Catholic authors whose hymns have long been in use in the Protestant Church. Following is a brief hymn by St. Thomas:

O saving victim, opening wide

The gate of Heaven to men below, Our foes press on from every side;

Thine aid supply, Thy strength bestow.

All thanks and praise to Thee ascend

Forevermore, blest One in Three; O, grant us life that shall not end,

In our true native land with Thee.

Thomas of Celano (13th Century).

It is somewhat remarkable that neither the date of the birth nor of the death of this writer, whose name is so intimately associated with the "Dies Irae," is on record. Thomas was the friend and biographer of Francis of Assisi. The hold which this hymn has had upon the minds of men of various nations and creeds has been very great. Goethe uses it in his "Faust" with great effect. It also furnishes a grand climax in Canto 6, in Sir Walter Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel." It has been translated into many languages, in some of which the renderings are very numerous. Daniel, writing from a German standpoint, says, "Even those to whom the hymns of the Latin church are almost entirely unknown, certainly know this one; and if anyone can be found so alien to human nature that they have no appreciation of sacred poetry, yet, as a matter of certainty, even they would give their minds to this hymn, of which every word is weighty, yea, even a thunder-clap."

Upon the Dies Irae Mozart founded his celebrated "Requiem" — in the composition of which his excitement became so great as to hasten his death — and it is said that Rev. Samuel Johnson could never, on account of his tears, repeat this hymn in the original.

We give the greatly condensed version of the Dies Irae, as translated by Sir Walter Scott. This is the only version which is found in our commonly-used hymn-books:

That day of wrath! that dreadful day, When heaven and earth shall pass away!

What power shall be the sinner's stay?

How shall he meet that dreadful day?

When, shrivelling like a parched scroll, The naming heavens together roll; When, louder yet, and yet more dread, Swells the high trump that wakes the dead;

O, on that day, that dreadful day, When man to judgment wakes from clay, Be thou, O God, the sinner's stay, Though heaven and earth shall pass away.

Rev. Martin Luther, D. D. (1483-1546).

Martin Luther was born at Eisleben, Saxony, in 1483. His poetical talents and love of music were very great. He learned the science with the first rudiments of his native language; and when, as a wandering minstrel, he earned his daily bread by exercising his musical powers in singing before the doors of the rich in the streets of Magdeburg and Eisenach, he was as truly preparing for the future reformer as when a retired monk in the cloister of Erfurt, he was storing his mind with the truths of revelation, with which to refute the errors of popery. One of his earliest efforts at reform was the publication of a psalm-book, in 1524, composed and set to music chiefly by himself. S. T. Coleridge says that Martin Luther did as much for the Reformation by his hymns, as by his translation of the Bible. The hymns of Luther were indeed the battlecry and trumpet-call of the Reformation. "The children learned them in the cottage, and martyrs sung them on the scaffold."

The hymn beginning:

"A mighty fortress is our God," is the grandest of Luther's hymns, and is in harmony with sublime historical periods, from its very nature, boldness and simplicity. It was written, according to Welles, in the memorable year when the evangelical princes delivered their protest at the Diet of Spires, from which the word and the meaning of the word Protestant is derived. Luther used often to sing it in 1530, while the Diet of Augsburg was sitting. It soon became the favorite psalm with the people. It was one of the watchwords of the Reformation, cheering armies to conflict, and sustaining believers in the hours of fiery trial.

After Luther's death, when his affectionate coadjutor Melancthon was at Weimar with his banished friends Jonas and Creuziger, he heard a little maid singing this psalm in the street, and said, "Sing on, my little girl, you little know whom you comfort." The first line of this hymn is inscribed on Luther's tomb at Wittenburg.

Following are the first and third verses of the hymn as translated by F. H. Hedge:

A mighty fortress is our God,

A bulwark never failing, Our helper he, amid the flood

Of mortal ills prevailing.

For still our ancient foe Doth seek to work us woe; His craft and power are great, And, armed with cruel hate,

On earth is not his equal.

And though this world with devils filled,

Should threaten to undo us; We wall not fear, for God hath willed

His truth to triumph through us.

The Prince of Darkness grim — We tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, For, lo, his doom is sure,

One little word shall fell him.

The tune, "Ein' Feste Burg," to which this hymn is sung, was also composed by Luther.

St. Francis Xavier (i 506-1 552).

Francis Xavier was born of a noble family in Spain, in 1506. At the age of 16 he entered the University of Paris, where he was brought under the influence of Loyola, the celebrated founder of the Jesuit Order. He renounced all worldly ambitions and aims and became a missionary to India, China and other foreign lands, toiling with a self-forgetful ardor and a self-consuming zeal. He died in 1552, on the barren island of Sanchian near Canton, China.

Of this distinguished missionary it has been well said that, from the days of Paul of Tarsus to our own, the annals of mankind exhibit no other example of a soul borne upward so triumphantly through distress and danger in their most appalling aspects. When, on one occasion, reminded of the perils to which he was about to expose himself by a mission to the barbarous islands of the Eastern Archipelago, he replied, "If these lands had scented woods and mines of gold, Christians would find courage to go there; nor would all the perils of the world prevent them. They are dastardly and alarmed because there is nothing to be gained but the souls of men; and shall love be less hardy and less generous than avarice? They will destroy me, you say, by poison. It is an honor to which such a sinner as I am may not aspire; but this I dare to say, that, whatever form of torture or of death awaits me, I am ready to suffer it ten thousand times for the salvation of a single soul."

Well has John Angell James said, "This is a sublime heroism. Wondrous Xavier! whatever were thy errors, it would be the dregs of bigotry not to admire thy martyr zeal."

Following is his famous hymn, which is found in many Protestant hymnals :

Thou, O my Jesus Thou didst me

Upon the cross embrace: For me didst bear the nails, and spear,

And manifold disgrace;

And sweat of agony; E'en death itself; and all for one

Who was thine enemy .

Then why, O blessed Jesus Christ,

Should I not love Thee well?

Not for the hope of winning heaven,

Or of escaping hell.

Not with the hope of gaining aught,

Nor seeking a reward; But as thyself has loved me,

O ever loving Lord.

E'en so I love Thee, and will love,

And in Thy praise will sing; Solely because Thou art my God,

And my eternal King.

Rev. David Dickson (1583-1663).

Rev. David Dickson, the reputed author of the quaint and beautiful hymn,

"O mother dear, Jerusalem!"

in the present form of the poem, was a Scottish Presbyterian minister, born at Glasgow in 1583, and for several years Professor of Divinity at Glasgow and in the University of Edinburg. He was deprived of his office at the Restoration for refusing the oath of Supremacy, and died in 1663. This historic hymn which has made him famous as an author, was spoken of by Montgomery as one of the finest in our language. William C. Prime, in the eloquent introduction to his book on the " Origin and Genealogy" of this old hymn, says: "This hymn has grown to be very sacred. It was sung by the martyrs of Scotland. It has rung in triumphal tones through the arches of mighty cathedrals; it has been chanted by the lips of kings, and queens, and nobles; it has ascended in the still air above the roofs of the poor; it has given utterance to the hopes and expectations of the Christian on every continent, by every sea shore, in hall and hovel, until it has become in one or another of its forms, the possession of the whole Christian world."

The origin of this noble canticle can be traced back to the Apocalypse, of which it reproduces much of the imagery and phraseology. With the lapse of centuries the poem grew, word by word, line by line, as the voice of the Christian Church found its sublimest utterances in such glowing aspirations. A careful examination of the authorities leads to the conviction that we are indebted to Rev. David Dickson for the present form of the poem, and probably for a considerable portion of the verses.

As a specimen of the quaint and pithy fervor of this precious old song of faith, we take the following stanzas from the version presented by Mr. Prime in his admirable history of the hymn:

Ah God! that I Jerusalem

With speed may go behold!

For why? the pleasures there abound

With tongue cannot be told.

Thy turrets and thy pinnacles,

With carbuncles do shine, With jasper, pearl, and chrysolite,

Surpassing pure and fine.

Thy houses are of ivory,

Thy windows crystal clear, Thy streets are laid with beaten gold —

There angels do appear.

Thy walls are made of precious stones,

Thy bulwarks diamond square, Thy gates are made of Orient pearl —

O God, if I were there!

There David stands, with harp in hand,

As master of the quier; A thousand times that man were blessed

That might his music hear.

There Mary sings Magnificat,

With tunes surpassing sweet; And all the virgins bear their part,

Singing about her feet.

Te deum doth St. Ambrose sing,

St. Austin doth the like: Old Simeon and Zacharie

Have not their songs to seek.

There Magdalene hath left her moan,

And cheerfully doth sing, With all blest saints whose harmony

Through every street doth ring.

Jerusalem! Jerusalem!

Thy joys fain would I see; Come quickly, Lord, and end my grief,

And take me home to Thee: O print Thy name in my forehead,

And take me hence away, That I may dwell with Thee in bliss,

And sing thy praises aye!

CHAPTER III. Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Awake! our love; awake! our joy,

Awake ! our heart and tongue ; Sleep not when mercies loudly call;

Break forth into a song.

John Mason.

Rev. Paulus Gerhardt (i 606-1 676).

HIS German divine was born in Saxony in 1606. Gerhardt was a great sufferer in the cause of reformed faith, but his sufferings were in a measure compensated by the supports of human love. He became a Christian pastor at the close of the Thirty Years' War, first at a small village called Mittenwalde, and subsequently at Berlin. In 1666 he was deposed from his spiritual office on account of his firm adherence to the Lutheran doctrines. He received the reverse submissively, and said with characteristic loftiness of spirit, "I am willing to seal with my blood the evangelical truth, and offer my neck to the sword." His last days were serene, and witnessed to the end the consolations of an all- victorious faith. He died at the age of 70, while in the act of repeating the lines,

"Death has no power to kill, But from many a dreaded ill Bears the spirit safe away."

Gerhardt 's hymn beginning,

Give to the winds thy fears, Hope and be undismayed,

will be readily recalled by its first lines, and we give the first verse of a

beautiful hymn which is not so familiar:

A pilgrim and a stranger,

I sojourn here below; Far distant is my count ly,

The home to which I go.

Here I must toil and travel,

Oft weary and oppressed, But there my God shall lead me

To everlasting rest.

The grand doxology, beginning,

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow

is suited to all denominations, and to all conditions of men. It has been translated into all civilized tongues, and adopted by the Church universal. Written more than two thousand years ago, it has become the grandest tone in the anthem of earth's voices, and has probably been used more than any other composition in the world, the Lord's prayer excepted.

Bishop Ken, the writer of the hymns that first contained this magnificent stanza, in the form that it is now used, was born at Berkhamstead , England, in 1637, and was educated at Oxford. He early in life consecrated himself to God, and became a prelate. The Morning and Evening Hymns, which end with this doxology, were originally written by Ken for the use of the students in Winchester college, and were appended to a devotional work which he himself prepared, entitled "The Manual of Prayers."

In 1679, Ken was appointed chaplain to Mary, Princess of Orange, and in 1680 chaplain to Charles II. In the latter capacity he fearlessly did his duty, as one accountable to God alone, and not to any man. He reproved the merry monarch, for his vices in the plainest and most direct manner. "I must go and hear Ken tell me of my faults," the king used to say good-humoredly. In 1684 Charles raised him to the See of Bath and Wells. Ken resisted the re-establishment of popery under James, and was one of the famous "seven bishops" who were tried for treason and acquitted. He died in 1710, and was buried in the churchyard in Frome. He had requested that six of the poorest men of the parish might carry him to his grave, and that he might be interred without pomp or ceremony. This accordingly was the manner of his burial. "The moral character of Ken," says Lord Macaulay, "seems to approach, as near as any human infirmity permits, to the ideal of Christian perfection."

Following is the first verse of his beautiful Evening Hymn:

Glory to thee, my God, this night, For all the blessings of the light; Keep me, oh keep me, King of kings, Beneath Thine own almighty wings.